Computer Glitch Delays Cargo Ship's Undocking from Space Station

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An unmanned European cargo ship as large as a double-decker bus
inside will have to wait a bit longer before leaving the
International Space Station due to computer problems, NASA
officials say.

The robotic
Automated Transfer Vehicle 3 (ATV-3) spacecraft was slated to
undock from the space station Tuesday evening (Sept. 25), but a
technical glitch with a laptop computer inside the station
prevented to orbital departure. The two spacecraft were scheduled
to part ways at 6:35 p.m. EDT (2235 GMT).

"We're not undocking today, that's been canceled," a flight
controller in Mission Control told the station's three-person
crew.

The computer glitch apparently interrupted signals from a laptop
computer inside the station that serves as a command panel for
the departing ATV-3 spacecraft. The computer is inside the
Russian-built Zvezda module, the rear-most module that serves as
the docking port for ATV spacecraft and visiting Russian
spacecraft. [ Photos:
Europe's Robotic ATV Spaceships ]

Station commander
Sunita Williams of NASA told Mission Control that commands
sent from the laptop apparently were not reaching the ATV
spacecraft. Engineers are expected to meet early Wednesday to
discuss the malfunction and determine when the next undocking
attempt can be made, NASA officials said.

The ATV-3 spacecraft, which is also known as Edoardo Almadi in
honor of the late Italian physicist of the same name, is the
third unmanned cargo ship built by the European Space Agency to
send food, water, science gear and other supplies to the
International Space Station. The spacecraft launched to the
station in late March and delivered 7.2 tons of food to the
orbiting lab.

The cylindrical ATV spacecraft are 32 feet long (10 meters) and
nearly 15 feet wide (4.5 m). They are disposable spacecraft
designed to fly themselves to the space station, and then be
jettisoned at mission's end to burn up in Earth's atmosphere
somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. The European Space Agency
commands the spacecraft from a mission control center in
Toulouse, France.

The fourth ATV mission will launch the ATV-4 Albert Einstein to
the station in April 2013.

Europe's ATV vehicles are part of a
robotic spaceship fleet that regularly haul supplies to the
space station. Russia's unmanned Progress vehicles and Japan's
H-2 Transfer Vehicles have also made delivery flights to
the station. NASA has contracted the private spaceflight
companies SpaceX, of Hawthorne, Calif., and Orbital Sciences
Corp., of Dulles, Va., to build unmanned cargo ships for station
deliveries.

SpaceX performed the first test flight to the station using its
Dragon cargo ship in May and is expected to launch the first
official delivery flight to the orbiting lab on Oct. 7. SpaceX
has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to provide 12 Dragon
delivery flights. Orbital Sciences has a $1.9 billion contract
with NASA for eight delivery missions using its Cygnus
spacecraft.